Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Boundaries
What are Plates?
• The Earth’s crust and
upper mantle
(Lithosphere) are
broken into sections
called plates
Convection Currents in the mantle move the plates as the core heats
the slowly-flowing asthenosphere (the elastic/plastic-like part of the
mantle).
The edges of Earth’s plates
meet at plate boundaries.
RIFTING
causes
SEAFLOOR SPREADING
How is the rock pulled at Divergent
Boundaries?
• A geologic feature
or event…
May form RIFT
VALLEYS on
continents
SEA-FLOOR SPREADING
in the ocean
Helpful Hints…
• Divergent is like “dissecting” or “dividing”
• Happens on land
& under H2O
Features of Divergent Boundaries
• Mid-ocean ridges
• rift valleys
• fissure volcanoes
How is the rock pushed at convergent
boundaries?
A plate boundary where two plates move
towards each other.
Boundaries between two
plates that are colliding
• Places
where
plates crash
(or crunch)
together or
subduct
(one sinks
under)
There are 3 types of Convergent
Boundaries…
VOLCANOES
occur at
subduction
zones
Andes Mountains, South America
• Ocean plate colliding with another ocean plate
• This stress is
called SHEARING
What happens next at Transform Boundaries?
• May cause
Earthquakes
when the rock
snaps from the
pressure.
• A famous fault @
a Transform
Boundary is the
San Andreas Fault
in California.
San Andreas Fault, CA
What happens when the rock is
sheared (or “cut”) from the Stress of
Shearing?
• A STRIKE-SLIP FAULT
• Rocks on each side of the fault slip past
each other as they break.
Helpful Hints…
• Shearing means cutting (“Shears” are like
scissors)
• Transform boundaries run like trains going
past each other in different directions & they
shake the ground!
Plate Boundaries:
A._____________
B._____________
C._____________
Plate Boundaries:
• Correct Answers:
A.Divergent
B.Convergent
C.Transform